My home is about 13 yrs old. My home had a lot of that “Carpenter’s Brass“, as Rhoda calls it. I hate brass. HATE! But I also don’t feel like spending my money replacing perfectly good door handles and hardware. So I marched myself down to my local hardware store and bought some Metallic Paint. I knew it would work since we spray painted our front door hardware a few years ago and it is just now needing a touch up.

Rust-Oleum | Spray Painting Door Knobs

I am really pleased with the end result. However, I should have given my husband more direction.

He wasn’t so excited to be painting door handles and would have lived another 20 years or more not giving a second thought to the ugly brass ones.

Tips on Spray Painting Door Knobs

He took them all off while I was away teaching, laid them down on a drop cloth outside, sanded them a little and sprayed them……….then walked away to mow the yard. Which may have been fine had it not started to sprinkle. Water on wet spray paint makes it look a little more rustic with pits and bubbles than I was wanting. And he realized that it was kind of hard to get an even coat when they were laying on their sides.

So I thought we needed something like a stand you use when making cake pops. We used an old box, punched small holes to hold the knobs and we were in business again. (after sanding a few of the bubbled ones off) See how nice they look? And that’s the EXACT paint I used.

Here they are on my office doors. So much better, don’t you think? And it only cost me the can of spray paint……about $8.00 and maybe a cranky husband for a few moments. Totally worth it!

Warning: You will suddenly notice how filthy your doors are and proclaim to be the worst house keeper in the world. Thank goodness for the magic eraser.

Edited: I have since chatted with a few people who it didn’t work so well for. Mine are still holding up great as of today (03/07/2014) as well as our front door hardware outside is going on about 7 or 8 years. We did sand a bit and made sure to use a paint suggest for metal. I used the exact paint in the above photograph. Good luck!

Since 2007, Kim has been sharing tips and tutorials on how to live a creative life. Owner/Founder of Today's Creative Blog and InspirationDIY.com where inspiration happens everyday!
From the Pacific Northwest, Kim is a busy mom who adores her teen son, her middle aged husband and is constantly wiping the muddy paws of her adorable Labradoodle Maybelline. In her spare time, she teaches fitness classes and loves to decorate with thrift store bargains. You can also find Kim once a month on Portland's AMNW Morning show as their "creative expert".
Life is more fun when it's creative!

Did you remove all the little twisty parts that lock the door before you painted & did them separately? Also, when you did the locks that have key holes, they didn’t fill up w/ paint? I love this projects & we have all those ugly gold knobs too….can’t wait to try it

My husband spray painted our door knobs but he did something wrong. They now stick, sometimes the knob won’t turn and many of our doors are no longer functional. I can’t remember what paint we used but I only buy rustoleam or krylon.

Getting in my closet is a fight with the door every morning now. I told him we need to get new knobs and he said ts to much fun watching me struggle with the door.

I love that spray paint! I use it all the time… in fact I used it yesterday! We have ugly brass doorknobs in our house too, but we rent, so I’m not sure I can take them all down & spray them…. although, they probably wouldn’t even notice.

Your doorknobs look great! I’ve started using Rust-oleum lately as well, but find that the smell of the paint lasts forever! The last thing I painted was two weeks ago and finally, the smell has started to disappear. Have you had issues with the smell of the paint as well??

AH! Perfect timing! I was just about to go buy brand new door knobs at…what… $15-$20 a piece for my whole house!!! You are genius! Thanks for sharing this! I’m all over it. What would you say to adding clear coat in case of scratches and brass shows thru?

I just recently painted the hardware from the bedrooms upstaris and they looked great until, I closed the door and took quite abit of paint off were the door connects. As I did the door jams, door knobs and the little part were the door closings into. Not sure what too do here as I think this will always happen and it looks terrible.

I used the Rustoleum hammered dark bronze to paint my pulls on my kitchen cupboards and also my pendant lamps over the sink and over the island. They are holding up beautifully. I did sand them a bit to take the shininess off, then wiped them down and sprayed them. I am curious about doing the door knobs with locks, did you plus those key holes before you sprayed them?

Kim brings you Today's Creative Blog & InspirationDIY.com where she spreads DIY inspiration. Kim is the "Creative Expert" on Portland's top rated TV morning show AMNW. Life is more fun when it's creative!

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Since 2007, Kim has been sharing tips and tutorials on how to live a creative life. Owner/Founder of Today's Creative Blog and InspirationDIY.com where inspiration happens everyday!
From the Pacific Northwest, Kim is a busy mom who adores her teen son, her middle aged husband and is constantly wiping the muddy paws of her adorable Labradoodle Maybelline. In her spare time, she teaches fitness classes and loves to decorate with thrift store bargains. You can also find Kim once a month on Portland's AMNW Morning show as their "creative expert".